# What is the h for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 8, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242 "2006-04-08T14:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/1 "2006-04-08T14:41:39Z")
In the “Agile Web D. with Rails” book it runs through making an example application, a shopping cart. In one of the views files, there is one line of code I dont understand (below), I dont know what the “h” is for, also I took the h out, and it did not affect the application (as far as i could see). \<%= h(product.title) %\> Can anyone shed some light on this for me please. Thanks very much, Harro ---
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/2 "2006-04-08T14:52:07Z")
On Apr 8, 2006, at 14:41, Harro wrote: > Can anyone shed some light on this for me please. It escapes special HTML characters. If the title is “Bonnie & Clyde” you get the valid “Bonnie & Clyde” thanks to h(). You want to use h() practically always. – fxn ---
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/3 "2006-04-08T14:55:13Z")
It escapes the input for display in HTML. irb(main):001:0\> require ‘erb’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> include ERB::Util =\> Object irb(main):003:0\> h(‘ **Hi There** ’) =\> “\Hi There\” irb(main):004:0\> ``` Erik. ``` Harro schreef: ---
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/4 "2006-04-08T14:58:19Z")
> It escapes the input for display in HTML. > \<…\> > > > In the “Agile Web D. with Rails” book it runs through making an > > example application, a shopping cart. > > \<…\> And you can read about it in the same book, pages 331-332 if I am not mistaken. ## Regards, Rimantas [http://rimantas.com/](http://rimantas.com/) ---
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/5 "2006-04-10T16:16:27Z")
The actual pages on h() or html\_escape() from Agile Web D. are: 344 and 443. Just FYI. – ro Rimantas L. wrote: > > It escapes the input for display in HTML. > > \<…\> > > > > > In the “Agile Web D. with Rails” book it runs through making an > > > example application, a shopping cart. > > > \<…\> > > And you can read about it in the same book, pages 331-332 if I am not > mistaken. > > ## Regards, Rimantas > > [http://rimantas.com/](http://rimantas.com/) ---
**Author:** ![harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@harro](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/harro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-the-h-for/57242/6 "2006-04-08T15:13:23Z")
Rimantas L. wrote: > And you can read about it in the same book, pages 331-332 if I am not > mistaken. > > Regards, > Rimantas Thanks all for the help. I really should hav read on :S. Thanks again, Harro.